Cembrane diterpenes in olibanum / 中国中药杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the constituents in the chloroform extract of olibanum and their antitumor activities.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The compounds were isolated by chromatographic methods and their structures were identified on the basis of spectroscopic methods and X-ray diffraction. The antiproliferative effect of the compounds in human leukemia HL-60 cells was tested by viable cell counting.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Four cembrane diterpenes were isolated and identified as incensole-oxide (1), acetyl incensole-oxide (2), incensole (3), and acetyl incensole (4).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Compounds 2 and 4 were isolated from the genus Boswellia for the first time. Compound 4 showed growth inhibitory effect against human leukemia HL-60 cell lines with IG50 value of (16.3 +/- 3.4) micromol x L(-1).</p>